Adventures with work

I posted about this kind of thing before.

Sometimes I get to travel for work and whilst it mostly sucks, it does mean I get to see places for free. I don’t get very long to myself to explore and often I’m not really in the mood to go wandering around on my own, but I do get a flavour of lots of interesting places.

So, this time, my work has sent me to Brisbane, capital city of the state of Queensland.Last year the city was swamped with floods from a cyclone and some very poor decision making in the management of water levels of some key dams at the heads of the rivers that feed the Brisbane River. As a result, lives were lost and a lot of the city was under water. Now though, everything seems to be back to normal and I’m here for the week.

So, for me, travel wouldn’t be travel without some pictures of the actual travelling.

The start of the Wheatbelt – I think this is York, but its hard to tell from the air

Then we started flying over the salt lakes that dot the countryside as we headed out towards remote bushland and ever more desert.

I love the shape of these things! The light patches to the top of the image below are scars on the landscape caused by bushfires – you can sometimes see where a front has been made and access roads created whilst fighting the fire, or perhaps afterwards to create a bigger firebreak

More salt lakes

Abstract patterns

Red dirt.

We flew through some pretty impressive thunderstorms.

Queensland is much greener than Western Australia.

Oh yeah, 21st floor its a room with a view…of a carpark. Living the dream people, living the dream..

Stay tuned – I’ve got a week here, hopefully I can get time to wander around a bit

My favorite airplane moment ever was when, after the captain told us we were flying over the Nevada and Utah state lines, my 5-year-old daughter asked, “Mom, where are the lines that separate the states from each other?”

Apparently she thought the view from the air would look like the maps she had seen — complete with state outlines.

Hi Mikalee
Young ones teach us wonderful lessons ! Great !! In fact there is NO divide between states. There is NO divide between countries. There is NO divide between continents. Imagine a picture from few thousand miles above our ball made up of mud and water, you can’t see any difference. The division is in our mind but WE ARE ONE.

Hi Mikalee – thats funny! We actually do have a kind of border between states – its not quite on the line, but theres a rabbit proof fence that runs 2000 miles from the north to the south of the county between Western Australia and the other states.I don’t think its that visible from the air – the access road would be clear though.

Glad you like the photos – you so should come, but come for a while, its almost the same size as the USA!

Airplane shots are always such an interesting perspective. I remember flying into Chicago in the snow one year. From the airplane, the city looked like minature ceramic Christmas houses. It was so beautiful.

They are very interesting – I’ve seen to awesome work in Australia by photographer Richard Woldendorp – I guess he inspires me more than just a little, not that I can produce anything close to his skill.
I’ve flown into Toronto inheavy snow before – I know what you mean – everything looks impossibly cutesy!

Reblogged this on MyDestiny2011 and commented:
Lovely imags you have here..work sometimes suck but at least you get to travel for free and get to see nice placs. I guess many people who are stuck with their bored 9-5 job would love to trade places , if possible with you :). Cheers!

Thanks 🙂 Travel for work can be a burden, but as long as I get the chance to explore just a little, even if just from the aeroplane window, it’s always worth it. And yes, you’re right, I should appreciate it – some people never get to step outside their cubicle!

I love aerial photography, even the non-professional stuff. I enjoy looking at the natural patterns of the earth – sand, vegetation, water, silt deposits, and lava flows. I really like the salt lakes and pans in your photos and I’m glad I stumbled across this post tonight.

Hey Frank – such a thrill to get featured on WordPress – its somewhat skewed my stats for the month though! I’ve been fighting my email all day with comments and subscriptions – its awesome that people seem interested with pretty pics!

Glad you’re a fellow landscape appreciator! For me, its totally captivating – I can’t get enough of it!

Thank you 🙂 There are litterally thousands of salt lakes in Western Australia – each one has a name – like ‘Lake Disappointment’ – cos when it was discovered, they were disappointed there was no water in it!!

I REALLY WANT TO GO TO AUSTRALIA!!! Can you write a post about the people there? What they’re like and how they act and of course, the FOOD!

I hope you find some time to yourself and get a chance to explore the area a little bit! Have a safe trip and thank you for sharing!

If it’s alright with you, I started a blog of my own not too long ago and I would like to invite you and your readers to please check out my posts, comment, and subscribe! I would really appreciate any feedback as well as your support by signing up! The link is http://www.logicmeetsreason.wordpress.com Thank you so much!

i fly about once a year when i take the kids to disney in the summer. i saw the movie “up in the air” with george clooney and thought “wow, that must really be fun to travel around like that.” and i’m sure those who do it often might think it’s boring. and for me, being in a classroom every day for 25 years, i would love to get out somewhere and go other places and do other things.

Great post and pics. Love the shots from the plane. Hope you get some time to enjoy exploring! I get where you are coming from – I get to travel to great locations for work – but often have little time to explore. Recent business trip to Miami case in point (http://traveldestinationbucketlist.com/2012/01/25/do-you-travel-for-work-or-pleasure/) – did get out around the hotel property the morning before I flew home, but sadly no chance to see Miami at all! Feels like a waste as the hard parts (flights) are already done! Hopefully the next trip…

Just one small thing, there is an inquiry into the the water dam operator but no conclusion has been reached as to whether the dam was mishandled or not. One thing is certain, no matter how much water they released Brisbane would have flooded. Releasing water would have had no bearing on where the lives were lost in the inland tsunami either at Grantham and Toowoomba. Also Queensland had just come out of 10 years of drought and did not want to let too much water go just in case as the dam was down to 10%. Water was let go but even emptying the dam completely wouldn’t have saved Brisbane from flooding, brisbane is in a big flood plain after all!
Love the shots though